Plus, if you’re planning an Oscar party, Ben knows how to turn your evening up a notch. The 29-year-old has partnered with [yellow tail] Reserve and ReserveYourNight.com to help movie fans celebrate Hollywood’s biggest night by pairing nominated films with wine.

Ben’s Oscar predictions: “I think the supporting categories are going to go the way of The Fighter. You’re going to see Melissa Leo win and you’re going to see Christian Bale win.

“I think you’ll see Colin Firth and Natalie Portman win, those are the kind of locks of the night. Anytime an actor plays somebody in real life and wins at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, they go on to win at the Oscars, and that’s what’s going to happen to Colin Firth. Think back to Charlize Theron in Monster and Jamie Foxx in Ray or Sean Penn in Milk. It’s the right time for Colin Firth. That’s the big thing at the Oscars, it’s not just the work on screen, it feels like kind of a culmination of where you’re at in your career and what you’ve done. And Portman gives the best performance of the year in Black Swan — an incredible transformation physically, to turn into a world-class ballerina and also to paint this incredible portrait of a girl trying to become a woman and face her fears. I love that movie.”

“For Best Director, it will probably go to Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech, but I think David Fincher for The Social Network deserves it. I’m rooting for him. He’s one of my favorite filmmakers.

“As far as the film goes, while Black Swan is my favorite, I think The Social Network deserves to win, but ultimately, The King’s Speech will win. It’s nominated 12 times, it’s a true story, and it plays to a little bit older audience, which the Academy is comprised of.”

Notable Oscar snubs. “Ryan Gosling not being nominated for Blue Valentine was a joke. I think the film should have been nominated as well. I don’t understand how you can nominate Michelle Williams and not Ryan Gosling. Those performances were so connected and intertwined. I thought Mila Kunis was deserving of a nomination for Black Swan. Maybe it’s not the right time for her. I know a lot of people still look at her as a TV actress, which is unfortunate because she deserved it. But I think the Academy did a good job of nominating the best of the best. Hailee Steinfeld and Jennifer Lawrence a and Jesse Eisenberg, it’s a great young generation that has come into their own this year.”

2010 wasn’t the best year for moviegoers. “It’s a great awards season, but I thought 2010 was a also a rather forgettable year in movies. I think we suffered a little bit from the hangover of the writers’ strike. I thought some of the big studio films, especially some of the comedies like The Other Guys and Dinner For Schmucks, kind of missed the mark. I do love the Oscar films represented. I think you have a nice mix of films when it comes to the awards, Black Swan was my favorite film of the year. Any time a ballet movie can do like $100 million is amazing. But, ultimately the year itself was rather lackluster, too much Twilight nonsense.”

What to look forward to in 2011. “Whether you’re a fan of the series or not — and at this point I don’t know how you cannot be — everybody has to see Harry Potter come to an end. The final film will be a big event in 2011.”

Teaming up with [yellow tail] Reserve. “People pair food with wine, so they thought it would be a fun idea to pair movies with wine. We’ve paired the Best Picture Oscar nominees with wine. So, if you’re in the mood for The Fighter, and you want to pair it with a bold and intense, flavorful wine then you can get it with [yellow tail] Reserve Shiraz. I’ve paired all ten films with different wine.”

His plans for Oscar night. I will be with the E! channel. We’re live all day. It’s a celebration of pop culture for us. It’s our Super Bowl. This will be my sixth Oscars with the E! channel and it’s just as exciting as the first one.”

Remembering his first one-on-one. “The first interview I ever did was on the set of Season 1 of The Dave Chappelle Show with Dave Chappelle and his writing partner Neal Brennan. I was a producer at the time for a syndicated show called Hip Hop Nation and we had to get rid of our host and we were left hostless, so I said, ‘I’ll try this!'”